The present invention relates to a reproducing apparatus, an operating apparatus for reproducing, and a reproducing method therefor, which are capable of reproducing data recorded in a recording medium as desired by a user.
A user, for example a “Disc Jockey”, referred to as “DJ” hereinafter, who manipulates an audio reproducing apparatus and reproduces analogue audio data, often performs a special reproduction, so-called “scratch reproduction”, in the process of replaying an analogue record. The scratch reproduction is a specialized reproducing technique which generates an effective sound like a scratch sound. When the user performs the scratch reproduction by use of the analogue record, this kind of scratch sound is generated by turning the analogue record rapidly in forward direction and in reverse direction.
There is also a CD player, which is capable of performing a special reproduction as to the digital audio data recorded on CD (Compact Disc), similar to the scratch reproduction by use of the analogue record player. This type of CD player includes a jog dial and a memory, the audio data read from a CD is stored in the memory, and then the stored audio data is reproduced. The user turns the jog dial in forward direction and in reverse direction, similar to the case of analogue record, thereby changing the speed and sequence for reading the audio data stored in the memory. With such manipulations, the user can perform a special reproduction such as scratch reproduction, even on a CD, which is similar to the scratch reproduction performed by use of an analogue record (for example, see the Unexamined Japanese Patent Laid-open KOKAI Publication No. H06-089501).
Specifically, this type of CD player reads the audio data stored in the memory at a normal speed and in a normal sequence (hereinafter, referred to as “normal reproduction”), in a state that the jog dial is not manipulated. When the jog dial is manipulated in rotating manner, the CD player reads the audio data stored in the memory with changing the reading speed and the reading sequence in accordance with the rotational speed and rotational direction of the jog dial (hereinafter, referred to as “special reproduction”).
The applicant of the present application has filed a patent application regarding an optical disc reproducing apparatus, which includes an operating section that is configured by mounting an operation discal unit on a discal unit being driven to rotate by a motor and the like (Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-240443, filed on Aug. 21, 2003). FIG. 5 shows a configuration of the optical disc reproducing apparatus 140′ which is described in the specification of the above patent application. In the operating section 140′ as shown in FIG. 5, an operation discal unit 28′ is mounted on the discal unit 25′ via a sheet section 27′ having a low friction property.
The rotational speed and the rotational direction of the discal unit 25′ are determined based on an output from the second optical sensor section 32′. The rotational speed and the rotational direction of the operation discal unit 28′ are determined based on an output from the first optical sensor section 31′. The discal unit 25′ is rotated in a reference rotational direction (for example in clockwise direction) at a reference rotational speed (for example, at a rotational speed of an analogue record). At the time of the normal reproduction, the operation discal unit 28′ is rotated at the same speed and in the same direction as those for the discal unit 25′.
At the time of special reproduction, that is, when the operation discal unit 28′ is manipulated in rotating manner by a user's hand, the operation discal unit 28′ is rotated at a speed and/or in a direction being different from those for the discal unit 25′. At this moment, the control section of the optical disc reproducing apparatus determines the rotational direction and the rotational speed of the operation discal unit 28′ based on the output from the first optical sensor section 31′, and controls the sequence and the speed for reading the audio data stored in the memory, in accordance with thus determined rotational direction and the rotational speed.
After the special reproduction is completed, the operation discal unit 28′, which the user's hand has been moved off, starts to follow the rotation of the discal unit 25′, and after a while, it rotates at the reference rotational speed and in the reference rotational direction in sync with the discal unit 25′. At this moment, the control section determines that the operation discal unit 28′ is rotating at the reference rotational speed and in the reference rotational direction, which are same as those for the discal unit 25′, and then, the normal reproduction is restarted. In this manner, this optical disc reproducing apparatus provides a data reproduction (normal reproduction and special reproduction) desired by the user.
As described above, the optical disc reproducing apparatus repeats the normal operation and the special operation, in accordance with the manipulation by the user. However, in this conventional optical disc reproducing apparatus, there may be cases where a time required for returning to the normal reproduction from the special reproduction is relatively long. FIG. 6 shows the first pulse signals outputted from the first optical sensor section 31′ and the second pulse signals outputted from the second optical sensor section 32′, from the time when the special reproduction is completed until the time when the normal reproduction is restarted.
As shown in FIG. 6, from the time (A) when the special reproduction is completed, the operation discal unit 28′ pauses for a while until the user's hand actually moves off the operation discal unit 28′, subsequently, the operation discal unit 28′ slides on the sheet section 27′ and starts following the rotation of the discal unit 25′ by gradually increasing the rotational speed. Then, the first optical sensor 31′ outputs the first pulse signals gradually at shorter intervals in accordance with the increase of the rotational speed of the operation discal unit 28′, as shown in FIG. 6. When the rotation of the operation discal unit 28′ agrees with that of the discal unit 25′, the first optical sensor section 31′ outputs the first pulse signal which has the same width as that of the second pulse signal, which indicates the reference rotational speed and the reference rotational direction. At the time (B) when it is determined that the operation discal unit 28′ and the discal unit 25′ are rotating at the same speed and in the same direction, according to the first pulse signal and the second pulse signal, the control section gives a control to perform the normal reproduction. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, the time Δt0 is required between the timing (A) when the special reproduction is completed to the timing (B) when the normal reproduction is restarted.
Usually, when the user completes the special reproduction and restarts the normal reproduction, he or she moves one's hand off the operation discal unit 28′, keeping pace with the timing (tempo) of a music tone to be reproduced, after the special reproduction status. Since the user would like to restart the normal reproduction to keep pace with the tempo of the music, he or she is required to complete the manipulation (scratch) at a timing earlier than the timing when the normal reproduction is desired to be restarted, considering the time necessary from the end of the special reproduction until restarting the normal reproduction. Therefore, there may be a case where it is hard to restart the normal reproduction with keeping pace with the tempo of the music if the time Δt0 from the end of the special reproduction until restarting the normal reproduction is relatively long. Consequently, there is a possibility that a user, in particular DJ and the like, who is strongly sensitive to music, may not be fully satisfied with the situation above.